Two years ago, at E3, Ubisoft dropped a bomb on to the world when they debuted Watch Dogs, a new, next generation open world, seamlessly connected IP. The premise of the game was like nothing that had been attempted before, the possibilities that the gameplay promised, endless. And yet, in spite of all of this, it was the game’s graphics, then stunning and well beyond anything that the world had seen till then, that caught everyone’s eye and fueled their imagination.

When Watch Dogs got delayed late last year less than a month out from its release in the holiday season, people panicked a little. When it was re-revealed earlier this year, with a new story trailer that looked noticeably downgraded from its initial reveal (exaggerated accounts would have you believe that the game looked like a late generation PlayStation 2 game; yes, 2).

However, Ubisoft believes that the game will still look amazing when it releases, that it will compare favorably to the E3 2012 debut demo, which they maintain was just a demonstration of ‘the potential that could be achieved’ with this game.

“People look at things and interpret things based on what they know,” Morin begins. “You cannot control that. I think the game compares greatly to E3 2012 if you use the same weather at the same place at the same time. People are really responding to stuff like reflection, to rain, things like that – which is why we chose those settings for E3 2012 to show the full potential we can get.

“But it’s equally spectacular for me to look at twilight time with clouds and no shadow and it still look good. Even the PlayStation 4 version compares to the E3 [2012 build] pretty good. There are resolution differences, one or two effects which are more dedicated to high-end PCs. But in the end I think it’s pretty fricking close.”

‘Pretty fricking close’ is of course subjective, and it remains to be seen how players respond to the actual in game graphics. However, in all this hullaballoo about the graphics, I fear the true issue has been overlooked- the game itself looks nowhere near as exciting as it did at its E3 2012 reveal.

Watch Dogs releases in a month on Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with a Wii U release to follow later this year. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

[Eurogamer]

“When the PS4 showed up it did bring new possibilities to improve graphics and every AI systems we have. But in the same way we did for four years already, we will continue to look beyond what is possible to achieve in order to bring this little something extra out there for players to enjoy.

“So expect more AI behaviors, more realistic consequences to your actions and an overall improvement in visuals realization. Our team has been working on this very complex ecosystem for more than four years now; this is what is required to build such an intricate set of AI systems.”

However, all that processing power also brings forth new challenges such as taking advantage of the improved hardware given the time and resources they have.

“What the new machine brings is new processing power and memory to run these things, but the biggest investment is always the time and the quality of the resources required to pull it off.

“So not only does the next generation bring more possibilities, but it also brings new challenges that we believe are extremely exciting from both a player’s and a developer’s perspective.”

Morin also noted that both the E3 2012 demo and the PS4 reveal demo were playing in real-time.

As Eurogamer, he made the announcement at a press event in Paris last week. “It wasn’t nice to see any negative reaction to something you’ve thrown your life into. But at the same time you have to have the confidence that as long as you’ve got that stuff in there, eventually people will see it.

“That scene is not there anymore. I’ve not really heard anyone say they loved it…Because the nature of E3, there are certain things that are easier to demonstrate. The first thing I’d say about that is that possibly there was missing context – and in an unabridged snapshot, it seemed like pretty tough material.

“We’ve scaled a lot of that back, and as we’ve gone through the process of development there are always things that you feel are not working as well. Every game does this, and cuts certain things.”

A particular game several years ago made headlines for it’s use of sexual crime as a gameplay mechanic (and no, I’m not going to name it here). However, this was more of catering towards fetishes, rather than instilling any real disgust. Then again, the fact that the game itself was lambasted for trying to monetize such a thing wasn’t lost on the world, and it’s still more or less reviled.

Cut to E3 2012. Two games made headlines for their so-called violence against women. One was Hitman: Absolution, that had taken it’s violence to a sexualised spotlight. Close-ups of female anatomy, scantily clad women dressed in nun outfits, wanton brutality and murder – not to mention the occasional slow-mo shot of a woman’s nose being broken by Agent 47. Put it against classic Hollywood action films and there may not be much difference.

But these aren’t movies we’re talking about and the trailer was criticised for being borderline exploitative in some circles, and “not that bad” in others. It could have been so much worse than it actually was, in an industry constantly one-upping itself on the violence quota.

But then there was Tomb Raider.

Our protagonist Lara Croft awakens in a cave, bleeding and bruised, hanging from the ceiling. She wriggles free, only to fall on a pile of bones and pierce her stomach. Further making her way out to avoid a collapse (and finding one of her friends dead), she meets up with a group of typical alpha male killers. As they murder her entire party and kidnap her loved ones, she desperately tries to make her escape only to be discovered by a guard who attempts to have his way with her. Lara fights back and overcomes the guard. She then finds the strength to fight against the men, and hopefully rescue her companions.

Looking at the gameplay demo, it’s hard to argue for the sexualization or violence against women. An air of brutality pervades the entire game – that the protagonist Lara Croft is facing her fair share of it is a given. However, when the developers set out to create a game where they want you to “fear for Lara’s life”, did they succeed? It’s hard to argue that they didn’t. Every impact, every event, every brutal battle serves to push Lara further and further down into the muck – where eventually, she must find the strength to rise. It’s not unlike The Accused. There was far less emphasis on the sexual abuse but it made audiences squirm.

While Tomb Raider is still a better example than most games of real brutality against women highlighting their emotional turmoil, video games are still a long way off from finding that sweet spot. Take the manga Battle Royale, for instance. A particular scene involves a mix of brutality against a woman, with emotional and physical turmoil. It’s sickening, it’s disturbing, it makes our hearts sink to the very pits of our stomachs – as it rightly should. No one is going to write or illustrate such a scene keeping titillation in mind if they want to sell it, much less sleep at night.

So goes the same for Tomb Raider. Could Crystal Dynamics have gone further in their torment of Lara? Arguably so. Would they have been able to create an impact, and still sell the game? Undoubtedly. However, it still reflects a fine line between movies and games – where we are the victim, rather than the voyeur looking in on a crime we’re helpless to stop. It only makes sense that the player, as the victim, can fight back. Because if the developer allows the protagonist to be brutalised, it stops being a game and is now simply a game over. What happens next isn’t on your conscious because you can start off where you left from. Not so in the case of movies and comics based on reality.

But just the very fact, that by not going for an in your face sexual route and still achieving that aversion from the audience, Crystal Dynamics deserves some kudos. It’s amazing that we’ve even gotten to this stage in the first place. Real progress has been made and developers are finally getting it. There’s still a long way to go before we actually get there, but strides have been made in these past few years. If successful, it will create a precedent for violence and sexual abuse in video games as it did in the media. A precedent for not simply catering to the cheapest common thrills, but teaching and affecting games in it’s own brutally beautiful way.

It was interesting seeing all of the ultra-violence at this year’s E3. I feel that responsibility escalates with the fidelity. When you can render characters that look like the ones in our game – and other games – you get to this realism level where you really don’t want to encourage that kind of thing. Seeing that kind of reaction from gamers… It may well be human nature, but you don’t want to put content out there that pushes those buttons.

Which fits very much in tone with a remark Sid Meier made many years ago about how violence in video games can only go so far beyond shock value.

But what is Star Wars 1313 if not a more violent, mature Star Wars game? VFX supervisor Kim Libreri stated.

It’s for adults, not for psychopaths.

Which, speaking as a psychopath, is disappointing.

Not having followed the proceedings and rumours leading up to E3, or even tuning into the live press conference screenings, I simply digested some of the bigger happenings. Is it possible I missed out on a couple of things? Definitely, but that’s one of the magical things of E3. Something special lays hidden, if you care to look for it. Conversely, a literal storm of suffering could be awaiting in the next booth.

However, this year’s E3 was different. The Wii U was more detailed this time around, but I was focused on the games. So it was some trepidation that some of the titles I laid eyes on seemed all too familiar. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Dead or Alive 5 – there was definitely a “been there, done that” feeling (one the Call of Duty series has lucidly mastered). Do I harbour apprehension that they won’t be great games? Not at all. Did they wow me enough to do more than just move on to the next trailer? Not really.

Of course, the big names were relatively new. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls and Ubisoft Montreal’s Watch Dogs all had the proverbial buzz surrounding them. But again, it didn’t feel like there was something compelling and fresh enough.

Initial impressions pegged The Last of Us as a mixture of The Walking Dead meets Uncharted with more nuanced character motions and expressions.  Assassin’s Creed 3, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs all bore the brunt of looking a little too similar for my liking. They’re not the kind of titles that I’ll be looking back on two years down the line as the ones that defined E3 2012.

Each game in one way or another builds upon a previous generation’s mechanics, hooks and innovations. However, over the years, it’s begun to feel like a dilution in favour of cinematic and graphical immersion. But in this AAA blockbuster-hinging industry, anything less would be a disaster. Do what you gotta do, but it’s gotta be big and it’s gotta be a hit.

This is not to say this dilution and encompassing of features is hurting all titles. Look at Quantum Conundrum. On the surface, it seems like another Portal-esque switch-hitter. Deep down, it embodies a simple yet distinct art-style, a fun narrative with intelligent story writing and sense of immersion, distinguished by it’s own brand of reality-altering shenanigans. So games can be fun, innovative and familiar, without pandering too much to cinematic sensibilities. They can do more of the same but do it differently.

Heck, even something that just reaches out and grabs you, like seeing Zelda: Twilight Princess for the first time, or the Halo 2 target gameplay footage (smoke and mirrors controversy notwithstanding), or even with Uncharted 2’s unveiling. Or we can rehash the same icon-prompting kills and QTEs of years past and still be fun. Just not memorable.

I fully expect many of these titles to be on my must-play list for the year, particularly Watch Dogs and The Last of Us. And initial impressions show they’re quite strong in their mechanics and design.

Nominated for an impressive 20 awards at E3, HAWKEN racked up 10 wins and 3 Honorable Mentions.

The stunning list of accolades includes:

• Destructoid’s Best of PC
• GameTrailers’ Best Free to Play
• GameTrailers’ Best Online Only
• Polygon’s E3 Editor’s Choice Award
• Awesome Robo’s E3 2012 Best Overall Title – “One of the most jaw dropping games we played at E3 this year.”
• GamingIrresponsibly’s Best of Indie
• Examiner.com’s Best PvP (Multiplayer) – “The most anticipated game this year.”
• Video Game Writers’ Best of PC
• Sidequesting’s Best of E3 Editor’s Choice Awards
• GamerLive.TV’s Top 5 PC Games – “Hawken has become a blockbuster game of 2012…”

 Meteor Entertainment now have their cross-hairs squared aimed at the San Diego Comic Con, which runs 11-15 July, with Cologne’s Gamescom following shortly afterwards, running 15-19 August. 

The first step towards solving any problem is admitting that the problem exists, and after a lot of denial, Sony has finally done just that, admitting that the Vita might not quite be going as well as they had planned.

“Three months, forty titles in. I think it’s a fantastic machine. Of course we’d like to sell more of them, and we have key plans to do that,” said Sony’s VP of Product Development and Worldwide Studios, Scott Rohde. When it was pointed out that Vita sales so far had been nothing to write home about, he had this to say:

“We’re building a lot of additional titles internally. A lot of good third-party support, you saw that announced at our press conference. So, we think that it’s certainly on the rise. Still doing well. Would we like it to do better? Of course. And we’re doing everything we can in terms of providing great new content -sixty titles next year- to insure that that will happen.”

“You know that Sly will also have a PlayStation Vita presence. Some things that we’re not announcing yet. You saw LittleBigPlanet Vita … if I can sit here and say you’ve got PlayStation All-Stars, you’ve got Sly, you’ve got Assassin’s, you’ve got Call of Duty, and you’ve got LittleBigPlanet- that’s a pretty nice set to build a foundation on,” Rohde added. “And there are a lot of other bigger and smaller things that we just haven’t announced yet,” he said, when he was asked about the conspicuous lack of any Vita games and announcements at Sony’s E3 presser earlier this year.

Rohde is proud of the Vita, apparently, as he maintains that the system itself is perfect, and he wouldn’t change anything about it. However, he does believe that Sony probably bothced the Vita launch, and that they should probably have spaced out the front loaded launch lineup a little. “If I could go back in time, maybe I would’ve spread out some of the software releases a little bit,” he said.

I’m not sure if that would have solved all of the Vita’s problems, but it’s a start.

For instance, there is Trine 2. The game is coming to the Wii U, and it looks great. It looks as compelling to play as ever before, and it looks brighter and crisper to boot. Nothing that quite sells the Wii U as being ‘next gen’ just yet, but it does a fairly good job regardless.

Check out the official trailer for yourself and tell us what you think!